The Elisabeth Käsemann Foundation scholarship at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt went 2021 to Sara Alejandra Pérez González from Colombia. She is completing an internship at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá as part of a collaborative project with the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), which collects and systematizes data on victims and perpetrators of the armed conflict in Colombia based on reports from the state and civil society organizations.

Working with children of victims of violence and displacement in Colombia
San Rafael is a small municipality in Antioquia, Colombia. The area is not only rich in mineral resources, but there is also located a hydroelectric power station of national importance. The municipality was of considerable interest to the guerrilla groups, mainly because of the mines. The inhabitants of San Rafael therefore suffered particularly from the violent conflict in Colombia for decades. The people were terrorized by violent actors from the FARC, ELN or other groups. The place was temporarily occupied, its inhabitants were held in their homes, forced to work for the occupiers or forced to pay money. Many people were mistreated, kidnapped and executed, killed in fights or attacks or forced to flee. Also, the armed groups recruited people from the municipality as fighters, including many minors. After decades of terror, the region only came to rest after a military intervention at the end of 2009. 95% of the current inhabitants of San Rafael are victims of the conflict.

As part of her master’s thesis, which is supported by the Elisabeth Käsemann Foundation, Lina Gómez Núñez has developed a research project that deals with the memories of children of the victims, who have not directly experienced the acts of violence themselves. Current research assumes that such experiences are unconsciously passed on to future generations. The children should therefore be given the opportunity to process in a safe environment their own experiences of what their parents went through. For this purpose, one workshop was held in San Rafael and another in Argelia (both Departamento Antioquia, Colombia), each with about 20 children. In these workshops, the children were able to process their memories by making music, painting and drawing together.

There are several legal instruments societies can apply in coming to terms with crimes against humanity. But is there an ‘ideal concept’, or do the nature of the crimes and the political and cultural frameworks require concepts to deal with the past depending on national context?